Chapter 79

The question sounded casual, but the prince’s eyes were anything but. They studied Isaac with unsettling care. Cold tension crept down his spine, bringing a sudden, bone-deep certainty: he must never mention the tinderbox. That path might lead into the treasure vault, but one careless step would turn it into a road to the underworld.

“It isn’t that I want anything in particular,” Isaac answered hesitantly. “I’ve only heard there are so many wondrous treasures inside that I wished to see it just once.”

Kaiyan watched him, those clear blue eyes seemingly capable of peeling back his skin, yet Isaac forced himself to meet the gaze calmly. His heart hammered for a very different reason now, but he suppressed the panic with effort.

How much time passed? At last, Kaiyan spoke. “If you accomplish something useful, I may allow you inside.”

A heavy beat of silence followed. “I might even give you several of the objects there.”

Isaac’s ears rang. It was a road to the underworld; one careless step would surely kill him. It was extraordinarily dangerous, yet realistically, it was the only path by which he could ever enter the royal treasure vault.

The tinderbox. The origin of everything. The thing that would bring everything to an end. This was his only way to it.

“I will do my utmost,” Isaac said, bowing respectfully.

Kaiyan watched him without speaking, then sank into thought. After a while, he said, “If you intend to become useful, begin by increasing your vitality. You are not entirely useless, but neither are you especially useful yet. At present, the only thing about you that could be considered useful is…”

Kaiyan extended one hand. Isaac, who had been listening keenly for the prince’s definition of useful, obediently placed his own hand upon it. Kaiyan drew him closer and pressed his lips to the back of Isaac’s hand.

Isaac flinched at the fleeting sensation of warm breath and soft lips against his skin. Kaiyan remained still for a moment, almost as though inhaling his scent. Then, he bit down.

A sharp sting bloomed. The bite was shallow, leaving only a tiny wound from which a bead of blood slowly gathered. Kaiyan neither licked nor sucked it; he simply breathed in, smelling the blood. A brief, quiet silence settled between them. The tense air broke only when the prince finally licked away the crimson bead.

“The taste is useful,” Kaiyan said. “Quite useful indeed.”

“I’m glad,” Isaac said, his voice escaping like a sigh. When Kaiyan looked up, Isaac continued, “If you’re going to drink it anyway, it’s better if it tastes good rather than bad. I’m happy you enjoy it.” He admitted the last part with a gloomy tone, his shoulders drooping.

Kaiyan observed him and let out a short breath that sounded like laughter, though it might have been disbelief. The prince’s face didn’t show a smile, but as Isaac looked at him, something inside his chest felt a bit lighter.

Perhaps none of it matters.

Isaac’s blood was a significant turning point, aiding the prince in ways that were more than sufficient. This realization brought a quiet sense of satisfaction, and Isaac found himself genuinely pleased. A faint smile spread across his face.

Kaiyan released Isaac’s hand and leaned back against the sofa, continuing to watch him in silence. Isaac suddenly realized he had grown so accustomed to that unreadable expression that it almost felt comfortable. The realization startled him.

「The handsome one’s mood improved again.」

「See? I told you his emotions have been leaping all over the place lately.」

「Why is he like that?」

The cats appeared to be chattering somewhere nearby. Isaac let their voices drift in one ear and out the other while he gazed out the window.

***

The weather over Haylen was perfectly clear, and the world beyond the glass brimmed with life. The night pulsed with a vitality that was almost frightening, as though everything that hid in the sunlight came boldly alive when darkness fell. Even during the day, the air had radiated a vibrant energy among the dense greenery, but at night, the scent of living things thickened until it felt nearly suffocating.

The mingled aromas of leaves, soil, and water were so strong that simply breathing felt intoxicating. It was especially overwhelming on a moonless new-moon night, when the witch’s blood within him seemed to awaken. With air this heavy and alive, Isaac could truly believe that Haylen had once been home to beings other than humans. If he stepped into the forest, he felt sure he would encounter something no human was meant to witness.

Without the moon, the night was pitch-black, and his body felt almost weightless. He might as well have been drunk. As Kaiyan’s teeth sank into his neck and blood streamed from the wound, Isaac realized he had grown at least somewhat accustomed to the sensation he once thought he could never endure without panic. The sheer terror of his first feeding, when death had seemed to hover right before his eyes, had finally faded.

With that fear gone, other feelings began to surface. The steady loss of blood made him feel languid and drowsy, swaying in a strange rhythm. From time to time, shivers rose from a depth he could not name, curling deep under his heart.

Kaiyan, too, seemed familiar with feeding on him during new-moon nights. On the first occasion, he had needed to drink for a long time before the frenzy of pain eased and his reason returned. Now, just a few swallows were enough to bring back his clarity.

Even tonight, after his throat moved four or five times, his breathing shifted from the ragged rasp of a wild beast to a quiet, controlled rhythm. The pain had clearly ebbed, and his mind had returned.

Yet the prince didn’t lift his mouth from Isaac’s neck. He lingered, savoring it like someone slowly drinking an irresistible, sweet liquor.

“Your flavor is especially strong on the new moon,” he murmured at last, pausing. “Richer and sweeter than the strongest spirits.” His lips stayed pressed to Isaac’s neck, the faint touch tickling him until he hunched one shoulder. Kaiyan immediately bit that shoulder instead, making him flinch.

Never in my life did I think I’d look forward to the new moon.

The prince’s soft whisper brushed his ear.

“Yes, well… I’m glad to hear that,” Isaac murmured. “Now that the new moon is here, please drink as much as you like.”

“More than half of that is a lie,” Kaiyan countered softly. “Most of it, really.”

A trace of laughter wove through the words. Isaac closed his mouth. He had tried to sound sincere, but apparently, he had failed. Kaiyan’s perception was unnervingly sharp.

“I wouldn’t say it’s completely untrue,” Isaac mumbled.

Kaiyan seemed to recognize the feeble excuse for what it was, but he let it pass and simply bit his shoulder harder, enough to bring tears to Isaac’s eyes.

People with sharp instincts can be as much a blessing as a curse. Isaac clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking of another person with a similarly uncanny sense: the lord’s daughter, who had visited that afternoon.

She had claimed she was looking for her perfume sachet, a gift from her parents that she treasured deeply, fearing she had dropped it on her last visit. Perhaps the palace servants had received quiet instructions from the lord, because they had seated her in the reception room, promised to search for it, and then vanished for a long while. Considering Kaiyan had tossed the sachet out the window, finding it shouldn’t have been difficult. Isaac naturally kept silent. Everyone in the room understood the situation, though no one spoke it aloud.

The people of Haylen seemed united behind the lord’s daughter, and her interest in Kaiyan ran far deeper than mere social ambition. The reception room’s entire wall opened to a terrace overlooking breathtaking scenery, yet she barely glanced at the view. Her eyes stayed fixed on Kaiyan as he sifted through a mountain of fragile, crumbling documents, her gaze brimming with affection.

“I had long heard that Lord Kaiyan was the great hero of our age, the man who defeated a terrible monster on the frontier. I always wondered what kind of person you were,” she had said, her voice soft and sweet as honey. “Because your strength and military glory seemed so immense, I imagined you as fierce and rough-looking. When I first saw your portrait, I couldn’t believe it. I thought, surely they exaggerated because he is a prince. Isn’t this far too flattering?” She had leaned forward slightly. “But I was wrong. The portrait doesn’t come close. I never imagined you would be so beautiful.”

On their own, the words could have been shameless flattery, enough to make anyone blush. But her face was earnest, and every syllable rang true. Her cheeks were flushed, her expression that of a woman gazing at a prince who had stepped out of a painting and somehow surpassed it.

A beautiful woman filled with pure admiration and affection made for a pleasant sight. Even so…

She should have waited until after the new moon. Isaac muttered softly inwardly. Why choose the day of the new moon? Kaiyan’s condition was at its worst. He was calmer now on new-moon nights than before, but the night was still what it was.

She sat right in front of him, glowing with admiration, yet Kaiyan didn’t seem to hear her at all. He never once lifted his eyes from the brittle manuscript that looked ready to crumble apart in his hands.

Even I feel sorry for her. Isaac sighed quietly.

Then he sensed someone approaching from the side. He turned and met the eyes of a petite young woman looking up at him: the maid who always accompanied the lord’s daughter, Elli, if he remembered correctly. The moment their eyes met, she smiled sweetly, and Isaac bowed almost automatically.

“Do you like Haylen?” she asked, her voice unexpectedly low and resonant, a stark contrast to her neat, adorable appearance. The sound lingered pleasantly in the ear.

“Yes, it is peaceful and comfortable. A lovely place. Don’t you think so?” Isaac replied.

His question seemed to amuse her, as she laughed softly. Her laughter was as distinctive and charming as her speaking voice.

“I agree. I love Haylen. I enjoy traveling and have visited many places, but nowhere pleases me as much as this one. Nearly everything here is perfect,” she said, pausing before adding with a sly smile, “Except that it lacks handsome men like you.” She looked up at him, her eyes bright.

Isaac responded with the same easy playfulness he used with the women at the tavern in the capital or the palace maids with whom he was friendly. “Thank you. Haylen seems even more radiant because you are in it.”

He was used to exchanging harmless flirtation. However, when she spoke again, the dynamic shifted.

“I meant what I said.” Her smile disappeared, and her expression morphed into one of faint, wounded vulnerability.